Entertainment and art are much like beauty; their merit is all in the eye of the beholder. Some people like movies, some people prefer music. Others watch sports, and yet others would prefer to read. For years, mankind has always found activities to enjoy while passing the time in between responsibilities. Simply put, we’re a collective sucker for something to be interested in. Stage acts have been popular since the Vaudeville days, and extreme performers have also captured our collective fancy. Circus performers and daredevil troupes like the Flying Wallendas and stunt performers in the vein of Evil Kenevil have pushed the boundaries of performance art, paving the way for modern incarnations like Cirque Du Soleil and perhaps the most dangerous and darkest performance artist ever: Samppa Von Cyborg.

Born in Finland and living in London, Samppa himself is a master of many trades, including tattooing and body modification — a trade in which he’s considered a true innovator, having pioneered flesh stapling and inventing the “Mad Max bar.” While he is unparalleled in the body modification industry, he has become almost more known for his bizarre and gory stage shows. With good reason; his Psycho Cyborgs stage show features a myriad of tricks which most people would probably classify as “torture.” Live stunts involving piercing, skewering, electric shocks, drills, nails, suspensions, and bloodletting are certainly not selling points on Broadway or in a Las Vegas venue, but you will find all of those at each of the shows. “Everything that’s wrong in the world is right here,” snarled a judgmental Simon Cowell after seeing the Von Cyborgs perform during an appearance on “Britain’s Got Talent.” Obviously Simon hasn’t seen Samppa’s latest incarnation, “Portrait of a Serial Killer,” in which he plays the killer, using torture devices as his puppet strings, who ultimately compels his victim to return to him after each act of controlled violence, only to serve as a palette of live blood in which he paints an actual portrait. Yes. He cuts his victim and while she is bleeding, uses her blood to paint a masterpiece. These shows are certainly not for the faint of heart, although fainting has become Von Cyborg’s version of a standing ovation. “Pretty much every show we do, someone in the crowd passes out, and that’s really the best feedback we can get. It’s kind of become our trademark,” Samppa says with a sinister grin.

Given the extreme nature for the shows, it begs the question, “Is this art?” Samppa thinks so, and he’s quick to point out that while it may look like chaos on stage, the stunts are carefully planned out — even though there are no doctors present on site. “We have certain rules. No doctors on staff, I do everything by myself. No anesthesia at all, during or after. We have a no-drugs-no-alcohol policy a week before the show, and no painkillers. Everything you see is 100-percent real and that’s the point of the show. We want to show how far you can go.” With no deaths or serious accidents — even the Flying Wallendas and the Circus can’t claim that — are Samppa’s shows any different from the many previous forms of death defying entertainment, at least in terms of risk? We’ll let you decide. As innovative as the shows are, Samppa does maintain that people should not try to imitate them on their own, and we certainly second that notion. Even controlled, these deadly stunts can cause serious injury or worse, and Samppa advises the same regarding body modification. “For many people, body modification is about addiction. Sometimes this causes people to do their own piercings at home, instead of calling professionals and they fuck themselves up,” he cautions.

Whether you consider him an artist or not, let it be said that Samppa’s is a world with pushed boundaries, an extreme utopia where normalcy is maxed-out and style and pain are pushed to the forefront and outer limits. Taking inspiration from Giger, Samppa’s contributions to body modification cannot be denied. He has blazed a trail of innovation in his field and toured the world as a true exhibitionist, sacrificing his health, his body, and his mental capabilities along the way in the name of self-expression. Is that not the mark of a true artist? We’ll let you decide.